40 Acres, Steep!, 1 Mile Road; Need Advice

[repete]

As you can see - many differing implements can be used. In the beginning - 1982 - I had my driveway constructed by a private contractor. It ended up - smooth as a baby's butt. Folks who would visit would brag about how fast they could drive down my driveway. Great clouds of dust and ash(Mt St Helens - 1980) would rise up like the devil himself.

I found if I left a pot hole here and there the only thing I would hear is how they could no longer zoom down my driveway. A method to every madness.

I could, quite easily, fix them all. But then the devil would rise up again.

You are 1000000000000000% correct on this. The better the road the faster they will drive. That is a consequence of a nice road....

 

[Egon]

Once the road is set, use a landscape rake to maintain the surface and crown. No crown equals pot holes. The reason I use the rake is to distribute the 5/8 rock back across the surface. A blade will scrape it one way or the other but will not distribute it.


Ever watch a grader at work?

 

[Jchonline]

Kubota Grand L series has a mid mount PTO option. You can also get the auto hitch (super $$$) if you are determined to have the most convenient option.

The Grand L is a versatile machine and with the right weight added your tasks sound reasonable. Of course you can look for an equivalent brand tractor in green, blue, red or you're flavor.

Your most difficult tasks will be maintaining the road and keeping it clear of snow. I say this because not only is it long, but it is sloped and that makes it dangerous.

How wide is the road? Do you have lots of room to turn around or do dirt work (forward into pile, backward, etc). The chains advice is great. The main advantage of chains IMO is that they keep you from sliding sideways. Many don't think about this with tractors, but R4s and to some extent R1s are like skiis if you slide them perpendicular to the tread direction..especially in ice. Chains will keep this from happening. I am guessing your road has a slight downhill slope for drainage, so this will be important if so.

With regards to road maintenance perhaps a heavy rear blade for starters. With the slopes and turns it is going to be good to angle and reach the edges. Get some experience with it, and see where the gaps are. Then you will know if you need another implement for other parts of the road (LPGS, BB, etc). Remember your road widths..you still need to be able to turn around, back blade, and move material.

Snow blowing is a HP intensive task like mowing or hay baling. A hydraulic blower on a tractor does not seem like a good option to me. First of all it will take forever to get it on (with the blower). Front snow blowers already take forever by themselves. You will have to remove the FEL, then add the brackets, then put the front blower on, then put the 3PT hydraulic pump on, then hook it all up (unless the Branson has a special setup I am not aware of). Second, if the pump is on your 3PT then you won't have a rear blade to help clean anything up (which is a nice tool in the winter). To me it makes more sense to invest the $ in a mid PTO machine.


Repete: A blade works great to distribute if you back blade (reverse with the cutting edge forward). Not saying a landscape rake isn't capable, just wondering if you tried back blading. For my disintegrated granite road it works.

 

[repete]

Kubota Grand L series has a mid mount PTO option. You can also get the auto hitch (super $$$) if you are determined to have the most convenient option.

The Grand L is a versatile machine and with the right weight added your tasks sound reasonable. Of course you can look for an equivalent brand tractor in green, blue, red or you're flavor.

Your most difficult tasks will be maintaining the road and keeping it clear of snow. I say this because not only is it long, but it is sloped and that makes it dangerous.

How wide is the road? Do you have lots of room to turn around or do dirt work (forward into pile, backward, etc). The chains advice is great. The main advantage of chains IMO is that they keep you from sliding sideways. Many don't think about this with tractors, but R4s and to some extent R1s are like skiis if you slide them perpendicular to the tread direction..especially in ice. Chains will keep this from happening. I am guessing your road has a slight downhill slope for drainage, so this will be important if so.

With regards to road maintenance perhaps a heavy rear blade for starters. With the slopes and turns it is going to be good to angle and reach the edges. Get some experience with it, and see where the gaps are. Then you will know if you need another implement for other parts of the road (LPGS, BB, etc). Remember your road widths..you still need to be able to turn around, back blade, and move material.

Snow blowing is a HP intensive task like mowing or hay baling. A hydraulic blower on a tractor does not seem like a good option to me. First of all it will take forever to get it on (with the blower). Front snow blowers already take forever by themselves. You will have to remove the FEL, then add the brackets, then put the front blower on, then put the 3PT hydraulic pump on, then hook it all up (unless the Branson has a special setup I am not aware of). Second, if the pump is on your 3PT then you won't have a rear blade to help clean anything up (which is a nice tool in the winter). To me it makes more sense to invest the $ in a mid PTO machine.


Repete: A blade works great to distribute if you back blade (reverse with the cutting edge forward). Not saying a landscape rake isn't capable, just wondering if you tried back blading. For my disintegrated granite road it works.

I have used a blade and multiple techniques. The blade may have been an issue due to my added weight to get it to dig better. I wish I had "down force" with it. Ultimately I went with the rake as it did a better job for me. As for the Grader Egon, that ability I do not have. I wish I had a grader, it would be nice to have a blade between the wheels as opposed to training behind. I wish I had a control on my rear to follow a laser level on the long straight level portion of the road. Dreams while I drive....

 

[Xfaxman]

I am in the process of purchasing 40 acres of mountainous terrain in NE Washington State. It has a roughly 1 mile access road I will be responsible for. It is steep and windy, over 25% grade in many areas. The road needs a bit of work, but appears well built, plenty of water bars, a culvert or two, nice stone, etc... The property is steep as well, about 10 acres are developable, but still sloped. The property has several leveled buildings sites and a cabin. Planning to use the cabin for a couple years then build a house.

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Thanks in advance!

How did you determine the grade?

A 25% grade is only 14 degrees, not very steep.

A 25 degree slope is a 46.6% grade, pretty steep.

 

[ericm979]

My land is steep. I had my Branson dealer put IND-10 wheels and tires on my 3725, and 2" spacers on the rear. It lowers the tractor a few inches which lowers the CG. It's very stable on slopes. A drawback is less ground clearance but that has not been a problem for me. If you're going to be crashing about the woods without paying attention a couple inches clearance won't matter. Either way it'll need skid plates if you're going to do that.

The IND 10 tires may be slightly narrower than stock; I did not measure. the 5220 may come with IND 25s. They really fill the wheel wells. you could switch to IND 20s and still get the adjustable width rear wheels.

 

[Tompet]

After reading your outline of tasks, land and budget, you might want to consider one of the Kubota construction tlb's like an L39 (now l47) M59 (now M62).

I would be looking for a low hour used L39. It would be in your budget and with a landplane for drive have the weight, power and toughness for your tasks.

 

[Pugemasta]

Wow, so much great, valuable advice. I sincerely appreciate it.

I want to apologise for not reading all responses in detail yet. I'm busy with work until late this evening. Will read in detail and respond as soon as I have the time.

The road width, if I remember off the top ofy head, is about 15 feet. I hadn't thought of the FEL snow pusher, would be a nice opportunity to save some $$$ over a hydraulic snowblower, should I be concerned about damaging the road?

 

[LouNY]

How did you determine the grade?

A 25% grade is only 14 degrees, not very steep.

A 25 degree slope is a 46.6% grade, pretty steep.

View attachment 581806

14 degrees or 25% when it's snow covered or icy is steep, my driveway 14-16 degrees and it can be a handful in the winter.
Plowing down it chains keep you from having a runaway, driving up it chains allow you to make it up.
Everything that I have plowed with needed brake or a really low gear not to run away even with blades down and pushing snow.
Very seldom is throttle needed going down, brakes are often needed.

 

[Tennsawdust]

Repete: A blade works great to distribute if you back blade (reverse with the cutting edge forward). Not saying a landscape rake isn't capable, just wondering if you tried back blading. For my disintegrated granite road it works.

That is how I always finish with mine. I run it edge forward if I need to move things around, but always finish up by running it with the blade reversed. I used little bit of forward bite on the road edge side and tilt it slightly to push the gravel back toward the center. It will roll the gravel along and fill in holes. No extra weight is on it. Basically just let the blade drag behind the tractor. It will skip over the mountain rock that poke up here and there.

It sounds like the OP is on the right track. The Branson is a good machine, as are others. If trail clearing is necessary you should consider a grapple. Those can be very handy. My land is very steep and I run R1s on both of my tractors. Both are 2wd so maximum traction is a must. I put wider tires on the Ford and set the wheels out almost as far as they would go, which makes a huge difference when forced to travel across slopes. I mow slopes that are uncomfortable to stand on with it.